Spring fender or bumper



July 31, 1923 W. 'G. COX

SPRING FENDER OR BUMPER Filed April 20, 1925 @Hsu Patented duly 31,1923..

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WILLIAM G. COX, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO.

SPRING FENDER OR BUMPER.

Application filed April 20, 1923, Serial No. 633,445.

T0 all who/m it may con-cern:

Be it known that LVILLIAM G. Cox, Ia citizenof the United States,residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in a Spring Fender orBumper, of which the following is a specification.

My general object is to provide a simple spring fender made of front andrear strips or bands of spring metal arranged parallelly in springbracing and backing relation and adapted to be secured transversely ofand to the frame or platform ot a vehicle, whereby .eieient protectionwill be given against hard blows or shocks and violent Contact with 'abody` will be yieldingly resisted and absorbent.

A more specific object is to provide a pair of spring striking membersand complementary brace springs capable of acting either jointly orindependently in cushioning a blow or shock. In the accompanyingdrawing. Fig. 1 is a top view of my improved fender mounted upon one endof a vehicle or car. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the fender Iand car.Fig. 3 is a front elevation 'of the brace springs vor bar without thefront flexible buffer spr'ng bands, railstor bars. Fig. 4 is an enlargedcross section of the fender on line 4-4 of Fig. l.

I am aware that -t is an old expedient in fenders to use a single fiatiieXible strip or band of metal as a yielding striking portion, and tosupport this striking strip or band intermediate its ends by resilientstrips of spring metal placed horizontally at the rear thereof. Thepresent device is predicated on that known structure. but differsspecifically therefrom in that I usel a pair of complernentary strikingmembers or impactv strips 9. and 3, respectively, made oi fiat springmetal, and support these two strips edge to edge in spaced verticalrelation in the same vertical plane to provide a relatively widestriking area the full length of the tender. These striking strips maybe arched more or less their full length, or made straight or nearlystraight at their middle and curved at their ends. and the extremitiesor" cach strip may be rounded by curling,

yThis latter mode of supporting a spring and 6, respectively, made offlat strips of l.

spring metal, which have corresponding straigiht intermediate portionsbearing against each other and riveted or bolted together. Each rearband or bar is bent forwardly atits opposite ends to provide divergingspring arms adapted to be riveted, bolted orrclamped to the strikingmembers or strips 2 and 3,* which 'as hercinbeiore stated are mountedone above the other. Therefore, the spring arms 7 and 8 of the bracingand supporting strips 5 and 6, respectively, are offset vertically tobring their extremities 9 to the same horizontal plane as said strips,Athe rear supporting strip 5 being `y`made relatively longer thanbracing strips Gand having its ends or arms 7 offset or projectedupwardly, and the second strip 6 having its end arms 8 offsetdownwardly. In this way rear bar 5 serves to support the upper strikingrail or strip 2 with. spring bracing effect., and the other rear stripor bar 6 supports the lower impact rail or strip 3 independently of theupper rail and also in a yielding bracing manner. It desired, the upperand lower striking rails may be connected together by clamping plates ormembers 10, either at the middle or elsewhere between their ends.

Any suitable means may be used to attach this protecting spring fenderor bumper device to the vehicle frame. but one simple and practical Wayis to bolt separate clamping brackets l1 to the projecting extensions 12of the side bars 14 of the traine or platform oi the vehicle,substantially as shown in Figs. l and 4. The clamping brackets 11 mayengage the longer bar or in relatively narrow vehicle frames theclamping brackets may be arranged toV grip and hold both bars 5 and 6.

that I claim, is:

,1. A flexible fender or bumper for a vehicle, comprising a pair ofstriking members made of spring band metal, and a pair of brace springssecured together intermediatethcir ends and having ofisct extremitiesengaging the oppositeends of said striking members. A

2. il spring fender or bumper for a vehicle. comprising a pair offlexible metal" striking bandsand separate brace springs mon strikingplane.

'for said bands secured to each other miei adapted o support each bandfor independent yieiding effect.

3s A spring fender or bumper for a vebide frame or platform4corriprising a pair of spring striking band". and a pair of bracesprings having divergingend portonsrsupporing said bands parnllelij atdifferent elevations.

4. A spring fender or bumper, comprising a peil of spring-meta bandsadaptec to provide compemenary striking members, and seperate springbracing strips for said members having diverging spring arms offsetvertically to support said striking mem. bers parallelly one above theother in a com- 5. A sprin fender or bumper, compris ing e pair o?complementary spring-meal bends, und-separate bracing strips securedtogether between eheir ends and having divergrig spring arms offsetYertically in opposite directions and engaged Wib said bords.

i 6. A spring" fender or bumper, comprising .e peir of complementaryspring-metal srig .ing strip for eeeb bendq seid ing; srips diieiiremiies. :i ing; members sex tions with indepeufierie L" 'E'. spring;or pareil T strikiiw bende o l pareil conneriehaving reverseiy-ericerAporirig seid bonds the other. i

A spring or bumperi eomplerrxenery Striking beurk; merid, and e Sepe-.rubracing;

